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The open-source hardware model

I've been for a long time inspired by the open source software movementand what it allowed in terms of new products, new games, new computersnew operating systems to, to exist in the world through this idea ofopening up the code and opening up the platforms that you were coding.And so I've been, ever since I first started workingon littleBits, really interested in how you apply that to hardware.And in the first days when I was doing that, I was a fellow at Eyebeam,an art and technology center here in NewYork, and basically brought together a group of pioneersand leaders in the open hardware movement fromcompanies like AdaFruit and Arduino and SparkFun, andreally brought them all together to participate ina workshop that was called The Opening Hardware Workshop.

And the idea for that workshop was really tothink about how do we create legal framework, how dowe create software framework for us to share hardwareinspired by the way the, the software movement did it.Out of that workshop we came upwith something called the Open Hardware Definition,which was a set of stated terms of what open hardware was. And weopened it up to the world for people to sign and to approve andto edit, and it became an open process for coming up with this definition.

And then out of that also, started a relationshipwith Alicia Gibb, who was a friend, and wasalso interested in some of these same ideas, andwe both came together to start the Open Hardware Summit.At the time it was a small conference that had about300 people attend, and then you had call of science around makerfair, and now has been, running for the past 4 years,and has thousands and thousands of attendees from all over the world.People fly in for it, and it's referenced, in, in, any sort of, big discussion aroundopen hardware and it's become the quintessential eventand conference around open hardware in the world.

By putting up the design files forlittleBits online we're essentially opening up theconversation to how the designs are madeand how the electronics were, were put together.And so we'll put them online and then we'll get email from people that say, ohhave you thought about using this chip insteadof that chip, or, or have you thought aboutcombining this bit with that bit, or, they sort of, you know, they get in alittle deeper and, and, and ask us questions,and sometimes find bugs that we haven't thought of.So you, we have this kind of conversation that happens, some of it online someof it offline and it's just really interestingand, and keeps you always on your toes.

And the other really exciting event that happened is in2011 or 12 I believe, CERN the, the, the Large HadronCollider decided to ratify their own Open Hardware License basedon the open hardware definition that we had come up with.So they, it, it, it becomes, you know, really exciting tosee it's such a large, respected worldly Institution, that's, that's puttingtogether the largest scientific experiment in the world, using as abasis the definition for open hardware that we had come up with.

And so it's it, it makes it real.It's, it's not, it's not a little thing that agroup of us are, are playing on the side with.It's you know, this is a global movementthat now has affected change in, in the world.And it's very exciting.[BLANK_AUDIO]

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Released

5/2/2014

Construction sets like LEGOs break down the building blocks of the modern city in a way kids can understand and enjoy. But how do they explore the digital world? Ayah Bdeir applied her engineering background to these "problems of play" and came up with a new kind of toy: littleBits. littleBits make electronics, light, sound, and sensors as easy to play with as LEGOs and Lincoln Logs—combining learning, prototyping, and fun. In this Creative Insights interview, Ayah explains how she created littleBits, grew the toy into a full-fledged company, and learned to accept fame and funding on her own terms.